I am Queen of the Peanut Butter Spoon, a gastronomical quirk that disgusts my mother and has perplexed ex-boyfriends.

I don’t care. Peanut butter is delicious.

I will eat it from a teaspoon. In bed. While you stare and/or glare at me.

Peanut butter is not only delicious; it also contains a generous amount of L-tryptophan, which I’m trying to cram into my diet at every possible turn as I continue my gradual slide off SNRIs (serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors). L-tryptophan, as I’ve mentioned before, is a pre-cursor to serotonin, and is absorbed best when consumed in tandem with carbohydrate.

This is a less alluring introduction to the peanut butter muffin than I was aiming for. So, let me point out that these muffins combine peanut butter and chocolate.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.

OK. I’m done.

In making these muffins, I riffed unabashedly on some very similar muffins courtesy of How Sweet it is. However, I’ve used a bunch of ingredients that I feel happier about putting into my body — so much so, that I’ve even eaten one or two of these as ‘breakfast’ on running-late mornings this past week, without the epic sugar-crash and guilt trip half an hour later.

I’ve offered substitutions for most ingredients, because I know that tracking down a large number of specialty products in one hit can be both expensive and annoying. I used, for example, a bit of leftover sugar-free chocolate (Well… Naturally dark chocolate) for the chocolatey bits and I always have spelt flour and brown rice syrup in the cupboard now. But you don’t have to have anything particularly special or outrageous to make a batch of these. Just a penchant for peanut butter and approximately ten minutes of preparation time!

Preheat your oven to 180° Celsius (360° Fahrenheit) and place a rack in the centre. Prepare a regular 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners or a swipe of butter or oil.

Add the teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk and allow them to hang out and curdle for five minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Stir through the chocolate pieces.

Then, in a large jug, whisk together the milk, peanut butter, oil, syrup, and eggs until smooth and well incorporated. Stir the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon — until just combined. Don’t overmix. Don’t whip it good.

Fill the muffin holes/papers to 2/3 full, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until puffed, springy, and dry in the centre to touch.

Makes 12. (Best eaten fresh but can be easily stored in an airtight container or frozen and reheated.)

courtesy

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